Mayor Ben Houchen has insisted that the Teesside International Airport is ‘not for sale’ despite an expression of interest from a private buyer.
UK businessman Michael Flacks said he was ‘engaged’ in talks with officials to buy a 49% stake in the publicly-owned site.
Lord Houchen told the BBC the interest was a ‘massive vote of confidence’ in the airport and officials had done ‘the diligent thing in assessing’ the proposal but confirmed it will ‘remain in public ownership.’
Teesside International Airport was brought back into public ownership in January 2018.
